Source: galen.org
The chief merit of language is clearness.
Galen, a physician, writer and philosopher, was born in 129 B.C. and became the most famous doctor in the Roman Empire. His theories dominated medical field in Europe until mid-17th century. His philosophical writings cannot be easily separated from his medical thought; This can be seen from his linguistic clarity, intellectual status and so on throughout his treatises. We know a bit more about him because of the sheer abundance of his medical writing.
He regarded anatomy as the foundation of medical knowledge and frequently performed dissection and experiment on animals. His observations were both anatomical and physiological; these include distinction between sensory nerves and motor nerves, that the kidney produces urine, that the muslce and the nerve controls repiration, that the arteries carry blood, valves of heart, and structural differences between arteries and veins. These observations were correct and open the possibilities for creating effective treatments.
He was a great fan of Hippocrates - he followed his idea of the four humours, and balancing the humours was central to Galen's medical practice. One of his most influential treatises was On the Uses of the Parts, which looked at what Hippocrates believed - the structures of different parts (organs) and the roles they played in the whole body.
On the other side, his proposals included various misconceptions as well. He believed that the liver produces infinite supply of blood and did not realise that blood circulates and thought that blood is being depleted on its one-way trip to the other organs. However, this did not stop him coming up with feeling patient's pulse and diagnose diseases by any abnormal pulse.
Galen believed that a doctor should be both a philosopher and an investigator: a thinker and an experimenter. "The best physician is also a philosopher."He claimed. On top of that, he argued that medicine should be a rational science, and made much effort to seek for reliable source of knowledge.
Acknowledgements:
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Galen
- https://www.ted.com/talks/ramon_glazov_ancient_rome_s_most_notorious_doctor/transcript?language=en
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/galen.shtml
- https://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgajpd/medicina%20antiqua/bio_gal.html
- https://www.famousscientists.org/galen/
- William Bynum, A Little History of Science, New York: Yale University Press, 2013. pp.30-34